A Battle in Alaska
Battling to help those who have no choice but to battle...
Welcome to my Team In Training home page.
I hope you'll visit this web site often. I will be updating our trainings below! It makes running a marathon easier when your friends share the cause. And of course, please pass my link on to others!
- Feb 2 - Season Kick-off! Met 6 of my 9 "Mentees"! We become the "Girlz Club" (yes, I am the only male). Full of apprehensions and enthusiasm, we officially start our Spring Run season!
- Feb 3 - We get an early morning shoe clinic at the Running Revolution to make sure everyone has the right gear, or at least know about them.
- Feb 7 - Our first Track workout (every Thursday night). Easy 4 800 m workouts with 200 m active recovery. We also get a core workout.
- Feb 9 - First morning long run (Saturdays) workout at Los Gatos Creek trail/Campbell Park. 2-4 miles. Plus, a clinic from a podiatrist afterward.
- Feb 14 - Valentine's theme at track. Our first interval/speed workout. Did some more core workout for warm-ups, then we were timed on a 2-mile run. Final time used to split up our 150-member TEAM into "waves" 1 thru 6, 6 being the fastest group.
Some participants took the workout to be more competitive that it was and did not run relaxed. Hope they don't get injured for going too much too soon. Still early in the season.
My Mentees who showed up did very well on the other hand. They are so far the best group I've had the pleasure of mentoring. Enthusiasm goes a long way and it helps them stay on track with the training. I can't wait to see them at the Finish line.
- Feb 16 - An early, yet relatively easy, work out at Los Gatos Creek Trail with the TEAM. 3-6 miles.
- Feb 18 - Buddy Run/On Your Own at Shoreline. Only a few participants show. Hopefully, they are keeping up with the 4-6 miles elsewhere.
- Feb 21 - Our weekly TEAM work out at track. More intervals totaling 3 miles. Really gets you tired, then core work out, which I actually like, except for the soreness and the being-really-tired part. Oh yeah, it was cold! Thank goodness for "Hang w/ the Gang" afterward. Beer sure makes one cozy!
- Feb 23 - An On Your Own Saturday Buddy Run at Rancho San Antonio started out quite cold and early! Not a great combo. "What are you doing this weekend?" Battled the cold wind and muddy trails.
My Mentee, Laura, tore up the Rancho hills for her first time! Looks like running is in her genes!
- Feb 25 - Went to the Fundraising Faire and got some really great ideas to fundraise. I have partnered up with 3 fellow participants. I will be involved in an A's Tailgate Party & Game, a pre-St Patrick's/pre-Easter BBQ and a Texas Hold 'Em tournament. This should be fun!
- Feb 26 - Led another Buddy Run at Shoreline Park. There were 5 of us. Looks like Daylight Savings will afford us to start later. It would be nice not to rush to a 5:00 pm meeting time while changing in the car.
- Feb 28 - Track work out had a cardio-kickbox instructor as a guest. Needless to say, we were a big "class". We could've used a little more intensity, but I understand it was sort of a promo. It was more like us watching the instructor and his students doing the work outs.
- April 30 - Received a text from my cousin, Jerome: "Sharon's scan was clean! No mass shown. Only two more sessions left. Yay!" Yay indeed.
All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. My grandmother had lived a full life by age 80. She passed away late 2006 after years of being anemic. I don't wish the same exhausting battle on anyone age 8 or 80.
The relevance to supporting this cause hit closer to home the last few weeks as my future cousin-in-law, who is getting married in a month found a small mass in her chest. The official diagnosis is "non-Hodgkin diffuse large B-cell lymphoma", but the prognosis is very positive as it has been detected relatively early and she still has youth and her active life on her side. She has to hold off on future marathon runs and basketball while she battles lymphoma, but Sharon has vowed to go on with marrying my cousin, Jerome, in March, where having a good time with dear friends and family will take an even more deeper meaning.
This year I am training and fundraising for the Mayor's Midnight Half Marathon in Anchorage, AK on June 21st. I will also be chasing the elusive 3 h 40 m marathon time at the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon on June 1st.
For all of your help and contribution to this fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, my heartfelt thanks.
In the time I have left to train and fundraise, I want to barter my personal services in exchange for your generous giving:
- Mow your lawn?
- Clean out your garage?
- Walk/dogsit your dog?
- Walk/dogsit your children?
- File your paperwork?
- Pick-up your drycleaning/do your laundry?
- Cook/make dinner/lunch?
- Help you move?
- Enter your contacts into your address book/Rolodex/computer?
- Set-up your MySpace page?
- Be your running buddy?
- Be your biking buddy (mountain biking only)?
- Be your buddy?
- Be your wingman, i.e. diving on the "grenade"?
Any chore you can think of will be considered. This is the home stretch for me after all. Think about skipping a few of those Starbucks trips for a week (oh wait, that's me..). Your donation is 100% tax deductible! What do you have in mind?
